Could have been.

I also was way into all the Algonquin authors at 14-15. Parker, Thurber, Benchley, Ferber, Perelman, etc. I was convinced if I lived back then I would totally have fit in with that crowd. I was also obsessed with the Marx Brothers around then.

Not Barb, but a RITA is an award given to romance authors by the RWA. It's named after the first RWA president Rita Clay Estrada.

Cute story-- I was reading one of the Nationals blog recaps and an unpubbed was working on her MS on the plane and noticed the older lady across the aisle from her was working on her computer, then a while later, reading a Desire. They happened to catch each other's eyes and the older lady asked the unpubbed if she was a writer and she said she was and was on her way home from National. Then she asked the older lady, noticing the book and remembering that she'd seen her working on her computer earlier in the flight, if she was also a writer.

Older lady leaned over, shook the unpubbed's hand and said, "Why yes I am-- I'm Rita Clay Estrada."

I've heard similar stories about people finding themselves sitting next to Nora in workshops and not having a clue because Nora will just be speaking to them like a normal person. One of the things I love best about National.

sitting next to Nora

Would die. Would babble and sputter for 5 minutes first, and then die.

Oh, when I was 14 I was also reading (and re-reading, and re-reading) the collected works of Saki, the Flashman novels, and a lot of SF (including RAH and so on). I very pointedly Did Not Read Romances.

Ooh, Flashman! Yum.

I forgot the entire Poldark saga, which I devoured at that age. Ross&Demelza 4ever!!!1!!!

sigh ... y'all are making me feel OLD. Most of those books weren't even around when I was 14. (Me? lots of classic SF, old school mysteries ... can't remember what else).

Would die. Would babble and sputter for 5 minutes first, and then die.

Then she'd probably ask if you wanted to go outside for a smoke, then buy you a martini in the bar. Because seriously, that's just how Nora is.

There's a second-hand bookstore in Silver Spring that specializes in romances and they have a special section for local authors that's mostly Nora Roberts. From everything I've seen and heard, she's nice and a class act (did you hear about her offering matching funds for the ferrets?).

Yep-- I was in on that. She also had bought an old building in her neck of the Maryland woods with the intent of turning it into a B&B-- saving the building since it was of 18th century vintage. And something like two weeks before it was going to open, it caught fire. At that point, she could've easily cut her losses and run, but she's apparently rebuilding the place because she can't bear the thought of the remains being torn down.

She's very much a straight shooter-- with Nora, seriously, what you see is what you get.